Theme & Topic
The 2027 National History Day theme is Innovation in History: Impact, Influence, Change.
Need help choosing your topic?
Check out our 2027 list of topic ideas!
Filter by time period, local/national/global history, and a variety of themes.
Innovation goes beyond creating new tools or devices to finding new ways of thinking, organizing, and influencing society. To put it simply, innovation, at its core, is about change and the impact of that change.
To fully explore innovation in a historical context, we must look beyond the idea itself and examine its effects. How did people, over time, imagine, develop, and implement new ideas, technologies, or methods? And in what ways did those innovations influence societies?
Innovation can include social, political, cultural, and intellectual breakthroughs, as well as new technologies.
Students should keep in mind these questions as they consider their topics:
- What problem or need drove this innovation?
- How has necessity helped to drive innovation? Consider war, disease, food preservation, etc.
- How was it received at the time?
- Consider topics related to the advancement of science and medicine. Were they welcomed, resisted, or feared? What were the consequences?
- Who benefited, and who did not?
- How did it change lives and society in the short term and the long term?
- What connections can be traced between past innovations and today’s world?
Explore topic ideas directly from History Source and the MHS collections
n Change and Continuity
Revolutions Gender Nonconformity in the 18th Century
ation in 18th-Century MassachusettsLocal and National Theme Pages
Explore theme pages created by local and national institutions to highlight their collections that relate to this year's NHD theme.
- Northeastern University Policy School
- Harvard University Davis Center for Russian and Eurasian Studies
- National Archives
- White House Historical Association
- National Women's History Museum
- Brooklyn Public Library
- History, Art & Archives: US House of Representatives
- The Labor and Working-Class History Association